Iliac artery repair and patch - 2 days post op and doing well

This is a quick update for my blog readers. I know it’s been very quiet here and the reason is that for the past 1.5 years I’ve been struggling with power loss in my left leg, which got worse over time. It was a hard hit for me when it was finally diagnosed as iliac artery endofibrosis, for which the only options are either stopping cycling or having a major operation. This meant I’ve not really been able to enjoy cycling any more and I’d rather write about positive things than negative things.

Well, I’ve finally got some positive news: I’m now 2 days post-operative from an iliac artery repair and patch and recovery is going really well. During the operation, some of the arterial scar tissue has been scraped out where the narrowing was and a bovine patch has been inserted all along the area of arterial thickening, to stop the narrowing from happening again. Luckily the area of damage was localised to the iliac artery and did not extend into the femoral artery, so only one cut was needed and one hole for the drain. The operation went very well, and was over in 2.5 hours. I’ve had all tubes (morphine, saline, catheter, drain) removed the next day.

I’m now adjusting to taking it very very easy for the next while, although at the moment I don’t mind it too much, because my very low blood pressure keeps me from doing too much too fast anyway. The painkillers are good enough to reduce the pain to discomfort and I’m allowed to walk increasingly day by day for the next 6 weeks, starting with a couple of min today, but nothing too strenuous (oh - and no housework allowed - Ryan, are you reading this?). Then I’ll have my check up in 6 weeks time to see if the artery is all good and hopefully I’ll be cleared to start with a bit of cycling again then. So all going well, you’ll see me back on the road in a couple of months time! :)